Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Differences in Military Bands


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Posted by Sean Chisham on March 03, 2004 at 14:41:14:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Differences in Military Bands posted by Drummed.. on March 03, 2004 at 13:40:59:

Lot of wisdom in those words, Sir. From speaking to musicians who are in MACOM and base bands there is always that possibility of being deployed with a unit off into some far off desert. I feel lucky to be in the unit I am in compared to how hard bands like the 82nd Airborne band has to work. We are currently in a different situation then when I first signed up for. Regardless of how or why we got here, we are in tense times. I will never forget the image on CNN of some tuba and euphonium players in Tikrit, spelling?, having a Tuba Christmas with just members of their unit cause it was too dangerous for any of the other bands to send other musicians to take part.

Even "Pershing's Own" for the first time since World War II send a group of musicians into a combat zone to tour with the SGM of the Army in Afghanastan and later Iraq. Before 9/11 we even had some people in the band who did not own BDUs. We all had to own them the next day in order to offer logistical support down at the Pentagon crash site. We were down there for a few weeks helping out. The Old Guard soldiers, who normally dress up and march on parade fields with us, were in hazmat suits pulling remains from the rubble.

So I understand, perhaps less so than those deployed to the fighting zones, how a promise of loan repayment and 3 hots and a cot can change overnight. I just hope that those who push the buttons across town make the right choices in order to avoid current threats and plant the seeds of diplomacy necessary to dissolve future ones as well.


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